Martin Scorsese is, simply put, the greatest living director in the world. He has heavily influenced some of the best directors working now such as Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson, and has directed some of the best films ever made. He has directed films in just about every genre, but since its the 40th anniversary of his first major film Mean Streets, Ive selected the four films that I think describe his filmmaking the best. The list is alphabetical and is not a four best list at all. I just want to display the main reasons why Scorsese is so revered as a master director.
1. The King of Comedy
What really makes this film shine is how relevant the topic is to the times were living in at the moment, which is what ultimately secured its place on this list. As long as celebrities are revered this film will continue to be an extremely important indictment on the oddity of celebrity-obsessed culture. The ending, which was highly illogical when the film was released, is almost prophetic now in the way that Rupert Pupkin gains all the fame he had so desired by doing a horrible act of kidnapping. The trick with the ending is that the audience is never sure if its a dream or not, but the fact that one could believe it is a reality speaks more for the film than anything. This is one of the oddest and most underrated films ever made.